Bonnie & Camille Charm Along - Progress Report

The Bonnie & Camille Charm Along kicked off a couple of weeks ago, so today, we're checking in with some of the participants!  Brace yourself for some serious eye candy!

This big beauty is mine!  I decided to keep my project very simple.  A beautiful 9 patch with white sashing.  Easy.

But I couldn't be too boring - so added these little hourglass/bowtie corner stones!  LOVE them!  This is single bed size and once I get myself sorted and finish it, will be added to my ETSY STORE.

Now - on to all the amazingly talented participants....

Emma's beautiful giant star blocks.

Susan has used my Charm Dash pattern for her charms - I feel so special!

Anna's beautiful pinwheels.

Love this grey background on Kate's quilt top.

You know how much I love colour graduation in a quilt top!  This one is by Shelly.

Yvette has "whipped up" this amazing postage stamp quilt top!

Far out brussell sprout!  I ADORE Melanie's project!!!!

Can't go past yummy stars - by Claire.

WOWSERS!!!!  Love your work Kristi!

Kate is mixing it up with green sashing and borders.

No words can explain just how much I adore this quilt top by Sue!

And Meg's Cross quilt top is yummy!

 So, once again, I think this shows just how versatile the charm square can be?  There are even more amazing projects being worked on - check out the hashtag #charmalong on Instagram!

If you haven't already joined in, it's not too late to start.  The linky doesn't open until the 20th of October and will be open until the 27th!  So go get cracking!

Don't forget - there are some amazing prizes up for grabs, including lots of fabulous Australian businesses!

The lovely Camille Roskelley has offered FIVE lucky participants their choice of ONE PDF pattern from her amazing range - including a couple of stunning new patterns!

A $50 voucher to spend on the amazing range of Quilter's Solids at The Oz Material Girls.  
(Part of voucher is to cover postage costs).

Live Love Sew has kindly donated a Scrumptious Layer Cake AND a copy of her X's & O's quilt pattern!

$50 Voucher AND a Miss Kate Layer Cake!

Machine embroidered Towel, hand towel & face washer set, made to order, kindly donated by one of our charm swap members - Meg Pease.

A SIX MONTH subscription to Make Modern Magazine! Please note: You will receive access to the next three Make Modern issues published after you subscribe. If you subscribe after Issue 1 is published on 1 September, you will receive Issue 2 onwards

Pretty amazing yes?  Be sure to go and check out all of the wonderful Australian businesses sponsoring the charm along!

And talking about prizes, if you haven't already entered to be in the running for a copy of my CHARM DASH PATTERN, pop over to THIS POST and enter!  Winners will be drawn tomorrow morning!

I'm linking up - You can too!

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#f*cktober - A Cushion For Eden

**Potty Mouth Alert**

A couple of weeks ago, Beth from Babymac wrote a beautiful blog post for her friend Eden.  Eden and Beth are REAL life friends - meeting through their blogging world, but becoming face to face friends instantly.  I don't know either of them in real life, but feel like I've gotten to know them somewhat through years of reading their blogs.  Especially Eden's.  Eden writes like there is no tomorrow.  Sometimes, literally.  I have commented on her blog hundreds of times over the years, especially last year when I was going through a rather turbulent time with a family member and her battle with mental illness.  Reading Eden's blogs - her feelings, her perspective, helped me infinitely in trying to understand what my family member was going through.  I would tell them this, tell them I was trying to understand and trying to help and that I felt like Eden was helping me too.  Through her words.

Sooooo, when Beth put out the call to help Eden get through a really shitty October, I was very quick to answer the call!  Beth re-named this month #fucktober.  With a hashtag - cos everything needs a hashtag!  Now obviously, I was going to make something.  But what?  This is what I came up with.....

 

One of the most divine cushions I've ever made of course.  Eden has a "thing" for feathers.  So I printed out one of Quiet Play's arrow patterns and then turned to my fabric for help.  After half an hour of trying to work out colours, it hit me - WORDS!  So out came all of my text fabrics....

 

And with painstaking patience, I fussy paper pieced words in to the pattern.  Not just any words, but ones which have power and meaning.

 

I used this sensational Essex yarn dyed linen and pulled out some spools of 12wt and 28wt Aurifil I was sent.  Experimenting with the denser threads was really good fun, and I'm happy to report that it worked beautifully in my sewing machine, with a 40wt thread in the bobbin!  The texture in the cushion cover is amazing.

I was also very happy to discover that I had enough of this divine feather print for the backing.  I think it's perfect.

So, I sent this little present off on its way last week with a little note for Eden - Words are weapons.  Eden uses hers for good.  I have no idea if you have received it Eden, or if you even read my blog hahahah.  But I really hope you like it and that it puts a smile on your dial.

If you'd like to send something to Eden for #fucktober, you can head over to Beth's blog post HERE for all the details.  I don't think Eden's local post office will know what's hit them!

Charm Dash Pattern Testers & A Giveaway!

Thank you to everyone who gave me such wonderful feedback and encouragement on the release on my first ever quilt pattern - Charm Dash!  I was a little overwhelmed by everyone's kind words and even more overwhelmed that some of you actually bought it!  Hoorah!  If you missed my post last week, then you can check it out HERE.  And just because we all love pretty pictures, here is the pattern cover photo....

Now, in case you don't know, getting a pattern ready to be released to the world is rather time consuming!  It is also a little stressful, and comes with a little lot of self-doubt.  Well, this was my experience anyway!  A few things made the process a little easier for me:

1.  Supportive quilty friends

2. Understanding husband and children

3. Chocolate

Some of my supportive quilty friends offered up their time to test the pattern for me.  Others proof read it for me, and gave me incredibly constructive feedback to make the pattern more user friendly and in turn, better.  I could not have asked for more!

So today, I am sharing with you some of their fabulous work!

My number one cheer leader, Angie from Gnome Angel, took my first draft written instructions to see if they made any sense whatsoever.  I was beyond thrilled when she sent me through a photo of her finished block.  Angie used some much loved AMH and Cotton + Steel.  I am so looking forward to her finished quilt top!

Emma Hill was one of the first to throw her hand in the air when I put the call out for pattern testers.  And, I kid you not, she had four blocks done a few hours later, and ten days later, her quilt was finished and I had this amazing photo to drool over!  Emma chose to make a baby size quilt, using a 3x3 layout, which I think works beautifully!

The lovely Lea actually offered to pattern test for me before I was even looking!  She didn't let me down, with this delightful fussy cut version.  I love the colour palette she has chosen.

Kelli has started her quilt top, using these beautiful fabrics!  I love the mix of teal, green and purple!

And this amazing piece of work is from the lovely Katrina!  She has switched around the rectangular print block placement, which gives it a whole new look again!  

And a close up just so you can see exactly how yummy the blocks are!

And last but not least, the lovely Susan purchased my pattern to use for her Bonnie & Camille charms!  I was so thrilled when she showed me this photo!  Perfection!

So - there you go!  Some beautiful versions of the Charm Dash, which gives you an idea of just how versatile the pattern is.  If you would like to grab a copy for yourself, you can find it in my Craftsy Store or Etsy Store.

And to celebrate the release, I'm having a little old giveaway!  I have two copies ready to email to two lucky readers.  All you have to do to be in the running, is tell me which charm packs you would use for my Charm Dash pattern?  The giveaway starts now and closes 8am Thursday morning.  The two winners will be announced later that day!

GO!

Charm Dash Pattern Release!

I am just a little bit excited, mixed with a little bit nervous about finally sharing my first ever quilt pattern with you all!  The Charm Dash quilt pattern came about after a night of no sleep, wondering what to do with my Kate Spain charms!  I ended up getting out of bed and started scribbling on a piece of paper, in order to not forget what I had thought of.  Later that day, I played with my fabric and came up with a block design - the Charm Dash.

 

The block itself reminds me of a mutant churn dash!  And when all of the blocks are pieced together, it gives a fantastic octagonal secondary pattern, which provides plenty of negative space for quilting!

 

One of the best parts about this pattern is the fact that it uses 5" charm squares and there is absolutely NO wastage!  Which was perfect when utilising my beloved Kate Spain charm squares from the Aussie charm swap.  It is also a great way of showcasing fussy cut fabrics - with the centre square made for highlighting brilliant prints!

 

All of that negative space was fun to fill.....

 

I free motion quilted what I will call "vine tendrils" over the entire quilt top.  It has added a beautiful texture to the finished look.  

 

I kept the backing simple.  But in an explosive kind of way!  I ADORE this blue print from Sunnyside.  It didn't need to be anything else but itself..... 

I utilised it for the binding too.

Although the pattern is for a throw size quilt, I have included cutting directions and block placement for Cot, Single and Queen size quilts also.

So.  I've designed a quilt.  Written a pattern for it.  And launched it out in to the world!  Who knew?  I'd like to throw out a HUGE thank you to a whole bunch of gorgeous quilty friends of mine, who have been so incredibly encouraging and have held my hand and cheered me on through this process.  You know who you are!  And another big thank you to my fabulous pattern testers!  You will be able to see their wonderful works of art very soon, when I devote a whole blog post to them!

For now - if you'd like to purchase a copy of the Charm Dash pattern, you can pop over to my Craftsy store HERE.  It's an instant download PDF, and the joy of having a Craftsy account means it's forever stored in your own little pattern library - never to be lost on your computer.

Phew.

I'm linking up (EVERYWHERE!) - You can too!